


Counting Stars

by Kelly1432



Category: Treasure Planet (2002)
Genre: Eventual relationship, F/M, Jim Hawkins - Freeform, OC, and like totaly recommend this to your friends to read and comment on, i mean i think this story is pretty good so you should think the same tbh, sloow brun, thank you and have a nice day, there is no smut me no write that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-06-02 03:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6549478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelly1432/pseuds/Kelly1432
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars..."</p>
<p>They kicked her out of Interstellar Academy. Well more like tried. If she wants to get back in and be the sailor her parents always wanted her to be her last hope is Treasure Planet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She can't remember how many times she had to remind herself to breath through her mouth and not her nose. Because seriously what was the god awful smell? Could things get that bad, she answered her own question when she found the score. 

Which was one very rotten pile of use to be food, it was so far gone she couldn't even think of what it could have been. She held it out at arm's length trying to keep it as far away as possible, but with the rotten fungus that close breathing through her mouth she could practically taste the smell. And it was not pretty. 

She made sure she mopped that spot a few extra times then needed before moving on to the rest of the floor. The soon to be sleeping corridors was empty as the crew wasn't due to come for another few hours, but Amelia insisted that they got to the ship earlier to make sure everything was in order for the unloading and arrival of others. 

For being the R.L.S. Legacy this ship wasn't living up to the legacy part.

And after cleaning most of the rooms Elizabeth could see why she insisted. She popped the mop back to the bucket rising it of the dirty particles before taking it back out to go over another area where a spot just wouldn't come up. Another twenty minutes or so the teenager was done she threw a rag over her shoulder and placed her hand on her hip admiring her work. 

The once dirty room was now polished and fresher, the stale air now gone and replaced with a hint of lemon. The wood floors practically sparkled at you they where so clean. Yeah she felt proud of herself even though the only real thing she did was clean but still even the simplest task played an important role on a ship. 

Plus she highly doubted the crew wanted to sleep within ten feet of what ever she cleaned up. 

So she had the right to feel smug if she wanted to. She only shifted from her position when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, she wasn't surprised when she saw First Officer Arrow. He didn't say anything at first as he continued to walk till he was in the middle of the room careful eyeing over everything, he did a full 360 till he turned to face Elizabeth. 

She had her eyebrows raised expectantly and her booted foot began a nervous tapping. "Well?" She pressed. "Do I have your seal of approval or not?" 

His face softened as he smiled at her and shifted his hat on top of his head. "Well I say that you did a splendid Job, Miss Armstrong." She smirked at him before picking up the bucket of dirty water. "Well thank you Arrow, now only the poop deck is left." She gave him a mock salute before marching up the stairs which was proving to be a challenge as she didn't want to spill the water everywhere. 

She only made it up three steps till Arrow decided he would rather help her then watch her struggle. She gave him her thanks before dragging the bucket to the edge of the ship and pouring the dirty contents over board. She filled it backed up with fresh water and began mopping again. 

"Marvelous Job, Cadet Armstrong!" She heard Amelia's voice call from above, she looked up to find her standing on a mast fastening one of the few sails. "I'm sure you can eat off this floor when your done!" She tied the knot securely before jumping to the next pillar off to finish her work. 

"I don't know about eating off it but it will be clean," Elizabeth said in a tone to soft for her to hear as she dunked the mop back into the sudsy water. 

When she finally did finish mopping the deck she was set to set up all the rooms which meant making beds, putting up storage, organizing the kitchen, and finally unpacking all her stuff in her corridor. Her room was small no bigger than the eating area downstairs the only thing in it was a bland looking hammock and a storage unit. 

She dragged the bag over her shoulder to the storage unit and slowly flipped the locks open before just dumping the belonging in it and throwing her now empty bag in the corner of her room. She looked in the box making sure everything was in there, spare clothes, sleeping materials, the necessities. 

She pushed aside one of the extra shirts and found an old locket, the once sterling sliver was now old and even rusted in some parts. She slowly flipped it open and watched as the projections of three people flickered into view. The oldest was a man and woman each wearing happy smiles -the image flickered out before coming back- the family was running around chasing after a young toddler. A blonde girl with hazel eyes.

The man had salt and pepper like hair and amber eyes. The woman had soft brown hair that was in loose curls her eyes where the baby blue of the sky. They where a happy family she stared a few more moments at the moving images till a knock on her door boomed through the room. 

She dropped her head and let the cool metal of her chain place on her neck, she tucked it under her shirt before before allowing the visitor access to her room. 

Arrow stepped into the room and because of his sized he looked even bigger then usual in here, something Elizabeth didn't think was possible. "The crew has arrived," He announced causing the girl in front of him to smirk. "I would most like it if you would help me see they become acquainted with the ship." 

"Yes Sir,"   
He smiled at her before leading the way out her room once on the deck Elizabeth had to blink at the sudden life it had on it. Every where she turned there was someone doing something unloading supplies, moving belongings, and setting up for work. 

"Look out!" Elizabeth had to quickly duck as someone was swinging over her head on one of the many ropes tied to the ship. She narrowed her eyes after the quickly figure grumbling to herself. 

"Remember no altercations," She soothed herself. "These are your crew mates you'll be living with these guys for the next few months," Just then a big slug like alien passed in front of her spewing spit and gases making her hair blow up at odd angles. She swore he smelt worse then the mess she cleaned up earlier. Her right eye began to twitch out of irritation. 

"The next very long few months," She grumbled crosses her arms over her chest. Arrow was watching the girl with amusement twinkling in his eyes. 

"It's good to see you restraining your actions keeping up your good streak," The rock man encouraged her. "I highly doubt you'll have any incidents this time around, hmm?" Elizabeth jokingly rolled her eyes at the older man. "No promises shall be made," She summed up looking up at him. 

After that Arrow sent her off to help the new cook organize the kitchen because the Kitchen was one of the most important parts of the ship, he was just trying in a very polite way to send her to the place where she could cause the least amount of trouble. He set off to help the crew mates in settle while that Captain was doing whatever she was doing. With that the two went their separate ways. 

When she walked down the stairs to the kitchen she was greeted with the strangest thing, at first she thought her eyes where playing tricks on her and so she blinked. One, two, three times. But much to her surprise the Pink Thing was still there. 

She let out a surprised squawk and took a step back nearly tripping over her boots. 

"Well I see ya've meant Morph," That voice was new and unknown to her. She turned to the direction of it and saw a man standing next to the cup boards. At first she didn't notice he looked like any Ursid she seen before. But that was just his left side. 

He turned to face her a mischievous smile on his features, well the features that could smile anyway. The right majority of his body, from what she could tell, was mechanical as in he was a Cybrog. His right eye scanned over her in a way that made her feel as if he was looking for something. "The names, O Long John Sliver," He continued. "But cha can 'ust call meh Sliver." He held out his hand, the flesh one, towards her. Elizabeth eyes flickered from the hand to him a few time before she took it. 

"Elizabeth," She introduced herself. "Elizabeth Armstrong." 

The the Pink blob, Morph she remembered, appeared in front of her then quickly changed into a miniature version of her. "Elizabeth Armstrong! Armstrong! Armstrong!" He repeated in a high pitched voice making her smirk at the thing. "What is he?" She asked looking over at Sliver. 

"Well he a Morphling," The Cybrog explained. "I found 'im and he 'ust grew on meh." The blop changed back to it's original pink form of space goo and nuzzled it's self into the mans cheek. "He's a little softie." 

"Yeah Literaly," She replied causing Morph to float around her head, eventually he calmed down and settled for floating near her shoulder. 

Silver smiled at the girl. "I 'hink he's taken a likein' to ya lass," Sliver let out a laugh before turning back to the cupboards putting food in. "Now if ya don't mind my askin' what cha doin' 'ere?" 

"We'll Mr. Arrow sent me down here to help you," She explained picking up a full box of canned foods and meat, she let it dropped to the counter as she opened the cup board and began putting the items away. "Personally I think he's just trying to keep me out of trouble." 

He grabbed a few items out of the box before speaking again, "Well that's awfully kind o ya lass but 'hat I mean't was what are you doing 'ere? On the ship?" He carefully watched the young girl, she pursed her lips before answering. 

"Working," She summed up chewing on the inside of her cheek, she reached in the empty box and found that it was already empty and moved on to the next one. She felt Sliver's gaze on her, he had his eyebrows raised signalling for her to go on. "Working on a 'being a better me'." Not her words.

"Well what's 'rong with ya?" 

"A better question is what isn't wrong with me," The locket around her neck suddenly became tight. A pained expression crossed her face for a short moment before she dived back in the conversation. "So why are you here?" 

"Well I'm 'ust and Ol Cyrbrog lookin' for work," He told her almost singing the words as he heated up the big pan the was over the stove. "Nothin' out of the ordinary at all." She narrowed her eyes at the back of his head at this. "Well since yer 'ere to work, would ya 'ind helping meh prepare lunch?"

"No not at all," She gave him a small smile before handing him an apron. "So what are we cooking?"

Much to Elizabeth's surprise she actually enjoyed her time with Silver. He was very charismatic, in a way. He told her how he had really come across Morph, and his other journeys of being a crew's cook. She shared with him few things about her nothing she hasn't told anybody else, she taught she was boring compared to the old man. 

She opened her mouth to ask him another question but came to a stop as she heard the sound of multiple footsteps and voices talking. And a strange noise the sound of metal clanking. 

Down the stairs came Arrow along with two new guest the one she noticed first was a Dog like man rambling on about a Feline, one Elizabeth could assume was none other then Captain Amelia, who probably had a entertaining time introducing herself. Elizabeth's eyes scanned over the man's attire from the spectacles on his nose to his overly sized space suit. 

She could understand if Amelia poked fun at him. 

"It's my Map and she's got me busting tables," The other voice belonged to a boy not too much younger then Elizabeth. He had a mess of brown hair atop his head and doned a leather jacket. 

At the last remark Mr. Arrow patience for the two had quickly dissolved he grabbed them each by the shoulder stopping them from saying the next few probably not kind words about Captain, "I'll not tolerate a cross word about our Captain," He said his voice taking an authoritative tone Elizabeth barely heard. "There's no finer officer in this or any Galaxy." 

The two then toned down before turning their attention to the kitchen where Sliver and Elizabeth where just finishing up, Sliver had even taken kindly to act like he wasn't paying attention by whistling loudly. 

"Mr. Sliver!" 

Sliver sent her a quick smile before turning to the group, "Why Mr. Arrow sir," He started stopping from cutting up the meat to wipe his hands on his aprons. He practically paraded around the galley as he introduced himself to the pair, Elizabeth didn't miss how the boy eyed Silver. 

"May I introduce Dr. Doppler," Arrow spoke you as the man proudly walked up to Elizabeth and Silver. "The Financier of our voyage." 

Sliver eyes, well eye really, twinkled with mirth before a red beam found it's way scanning over the man's space suit. "Love the outfit, Doc," This made the man extremely uncomfortable and Elizabeth laugh as he tried to cover up where ever the beam landed like it could see pass the metal. 

"Well... Uh thank you. Love the eye," He replied awkwardly before dragging the boy in front of him. "This young Lad is Jim Hawkins." 

The boy had an ever present frown on his face since the moment he stepped foot in the Galley. Right away Elizabeth could tell he was the moody type. Sliver dived into the conversation first. 

"Jimbo," He greeted making the mistake of sticking out his cybrog hand which still was in cooking mode, places where fingers should be knives and odd mixes tools where found their instead. Realizing his mistake he quickly changed back to his regular hand. 

The boy stared at the hand and the man it belonged too, much like Elizabeth did earlier but instead of taking it he continued to stare at it. Sliver only smiled as he went back to work. "Nah, 'on't be too put off by 'his hunk O hardware," He mused moving vastly through the kitchen. 

Elizabeth could tell he was trying to show off to get the boys approval, she exchanged a small smile with Arrow at this. He heated up his contents of food in a small pan before dumping them in the pot, sprinkling in a little salt. He got a laddle out and tasted the soup smacked his lips in approval before getting out three bowls and pouring a little in each.   
He shoved the bowls into the hands of the Doctor, Jim, and Elizabeth, "Have a taste of me famous Bonzebeast Stew." Elizabeth looked down at the chunky contents swirling her bowl slightly. 

She heard the smacking of lips and looked up to find the doctor reviewing the stew, "Ol' family recipe," Sliver informed earning the doctors approval as he went in to take another sip but much to his surprise and Elizabeth's too an eyeball came afloat stopping him mid action. He cringed before almost dropping the bowl entirely. 

"In fact," Sliver added throwing his arms over the Doctor's shoulder. "That was part of the old family." He laughed for minute even going as far as wiping a tear from his eye. "Just kidding, Doc," He then plucked the eyeball out and popped it in his mouth. He turn to the two younger kids. 

"Go on, Jimbo," he encouraged then turned to Elizabeth. "You too now, Eliza have a swig." Elizabeth took noticed of the nickname right away, because no one hasn't called her that in awhile. She smiled at the older man before looking down at the contents of her bowl and swirling the silver spoon around slightly. 

No. Obviously she wasn't going to taste it not after an eyeball popped up in one, herself was saved by Morph who had formed into Jim's spoon and ate his bite. He then turned into a straw and sucked up the remains while Sliver scold him, not like the pink blob was paying him much attention anyway. He was too fascinated with the new guest. 

He cuddled into Jim's face, much like he done Elizabeth earlier, Jim didn't seem to mind. With a smile he asked, "What is that thing?" 

"What is that thing?" Morph mocked making Elizabeth smile. 

He broke apart quickly coming back together to form a mini Jim, Jim leaned in closer to him while Sliver explained how he found him again. Morph licked Jim's face before fluttering back over to Sliver. The sound of the ships bell brought Elizabeth's attention to the action up deck. 

"Where about to get underway," Arrow announced getting both Jim and the Doctors attention. "Would you like to observe the launch, Doctor?" 

"Would I? Does an active galactic nucleus have supernurmeral jets?" The young girl guessed that this was his try at a joke. A sad misunderstood one at that. Seeing as he was the only one understanding the information he spoke again. "I'll follow you." 

Then began heading upstairs, Arrow turned to leave then noticed how Jim was about to follow and announced that he would be under Sliver's care from the point being, this took the other man by surprise causing him to spit out his stew. 

He tried to object but Arrow quickly dismissed it then turned to Elizabeth, "Cadet Armstrong the Captain would like to see you in her estate." 

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at him but followed anyway, once they where out of earshot she asked, "May I know what about, Sir?" 

"Well your assignment for the voyage of course," Elizabeth smiled before she rushed to the find the Captian. 

"You called for me, Ma'am?" Elizabeth asked upon entering the estate she found the Captain sitting at her desk tossing a key back and forth in her hands. Her ears perked up and the sight of the girl. 

"So have you meant our two other campaigns?" She asked a playful smirk forming on her features. 

"Yes I have," 

"Yes well you see I'll be needing you to be doing something very important for me," She stood up from her seat and walked around her desk till she was directly in front of Elizabeth. "the boy, Jim, well he's a little bit of the rebellious nature and as you know Sliver is in charge of him." Elizabeth nodded. "But I believe the Mr. Sliver will have quite a hard time with him."

The girl brought her eyebrows together in confusion. "I'm sorry but I'm not following, ma'am."

"Yes well let me shorten this up," She brought he hand to her chin in thought mumbling lowly to herself. "I would like you to watch over Mr. Hawkins see to it he stays out of trouble." 

"You want be to Babysit?" 

"Don't look at it that way," She said seeing the girl's irritation rise. "What do you kids call it? Hanging out? Yes, well I would like if you would hang out with Mr. Hawkins." 

"It's called babysitting," Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Just because you slap on another title doesn't change what it means." 

Amelia pursed her lips. "Yes well I do suppose, you're right. Either way you stick to him like glue and still keep up with your duties. Is that clear?" 

"Yes Ma'am," Elizabeth grumbled much to her dismay. 

"Yes well I suggest you go off and find him then," She encouraged placing her hand on the girls shoulder. "The Launch is about to start."


	2. Chapter 2

Elizabeth was not a happy camper at the moment. This was suppose to be her shot at proving herself and she gets stuck babysitting. Babysitting a teenage boy at that! One who looks like he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Then on top of that she still has to complete her training and report back to Mr. Arrow. 

Meaning she's going to have twice the work then what was suppose to be a simple voyage, just because Mr. Moody Teenager got a little snippy with Amelia. It could have been an easy misunderstanding where something occurred and his attention was drawn elsewhere. But Elizabeth had to admit once Captain Amelia stepped in a room all eyes where on the flamboyant woman. 

After all it was Captain they where talking about and she never did anything without good reason, though that can be debatable at sometimes. Overall she was still Captain and Elizabeth was still a Cadet and she was stuck with the task given to her. 

But she didn't have to let Amelia know she had accepted it, at least not without putting up a fight. 

"Now Captain I do believe the bars are not in my favor on this one," Elizabeth stated making the older woman smirk at her with amusement as they continued their walk towards deck. 

"Oh, how so?" 

"Well..." She really didn't think she would get all this far in a conversation with her. "Well, um, there's my sleeping clock to keep up." 

"Sleeping Clock?" The feline asked. "I'm not fond of that do enlighten me." 

"Enlighten you? Of course! Well you may know that when one has a lack of sleep their mood can change severely," Elizabeth gave a shocked look as she shook her head. "Yeah can completely change a person if their Clock is thrown off by even the littlest bit." 

"Really now?" Amelia smiled. "That's devastating."

"Yes!" Elizabeth cleared her throat then in a calmer voice continued. "I mean yes it is. The next time you see me I could think I was born in the primitive age. Walking around like an dare I say it ape," Amelia fought back a laugh."yes swinging from pillar to pillar craving bananas." 

"Dreadful things bananas are," 

"Yes dreadful indeed," The blonde gave a sharp nod. "So I guess this means I don't have to worry about Jim anymore. Thank you for your understanding!" She made a move to leave only to be quickly snatched back to Amelia's side a frown on her face. 

"I know what your trying to do," 

"Yes simply inform you of the danger that comes when one's sleeping clocked is messed with," Elizabeth hoped that just maybe she would let this one go. 

"Your not getting out of this job," The older woman stated placing her hands on her hips making the hazel eyed girl frown. "You, my dear girl, are perfectly qualified for this job."  
"Your only saying that to make me feel better," 

"I could be," Amelia said fixing the hat on top her head. "or it could be because I trust that you'll get this right." 

She threw her head back with a groan. "You did not just pull the trust card on me." 

Amelia laughed. "Yet I did, now hop to it. I've got a ship to launch and you have a friend to make." 

Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath before following her to the deck. 

You see Elizabeth wasn't much of a people person. Especially those that where her age, last time she was with a group of kids someone left with a broken nose. If you must know it wasn't her. 

So why Amelia asked her of all people to do the babysitting she had no idea. It was like asking a cat to look after a mouse. Nothing but trouble, Elizabeth rolled her eyes at herself. But the Captain trusted her and with great trust came, no that wasn't the right quote. 

Whatever it didn't even matter. Suddenly she heard Arrow's voice booming through out the ship, "All hands to stations!" She watched with curious glances as the crew moved about following the man's orders. Some climbing up to the mast of the ship ropes held tight in their hands. "Loose all Solar Sails!" 

The white sails came loose glowing as they caught energy from the sun. "Cadet Armstrong," She heard Captain's voice call she looked up towards the piloting area and found her, the woman giving her a stern look. "I believe you have a job to do." He motioned her head in the direction of Jim who was looking around aimlessly. 

"Yes, Ma'am," She said a frown setting in as she made her way over to the boy. Each step she felt like she was stepping into her own demise, didn't help any that she had on this stupid uniform. The white jacket made her feel robotic in a way. 

She reached the boy just in time, while he was gazing up at the action taking part in the sails he wasn't paying any attention to the deck, three crew mates where busy pulling a rope backing right into Jim, she pulled him by his sleeve the mans back just missing his leg. "I'd watch where I was going," The blonde told him eyes casting a look as the crew worked. "These guys don't seem all that friendly." 

Jim eyed her for a moment, Elizabeth not really being able to tell what he was thinking. "Thanks," He said his tone low before his attention went back to the ship. "So what happens next?" 

It took her a moment for her to realize he was talking about the launch, "Well right about now the ship should have just enough energy to float," As she said this the ship began to to as such, the sails catching the light. She nodded her head for Jim to follow. She walked behind the main mast. "Then once the sails hit the sunlight they take all that energy and put it in the engine." She pointed her fingers at the mast as it light up. "Should only be a few minutes now." 

Suddenly her blonde hair started floating around her and she felt herself being lifted off the ground. "Right I forgot about the gravity going off," She turned to Jim. "It does that." Just as she started going a little too high off the ground her feet found the wood floor she moped not too long ago.

Jim turned to her, "And that was?" 

"Artificial Gravity." She felt the ship turn and grabbed onto one of the many ropes lying around handing the ending piece too Jim, who took it with confused expression. "I would hold on tight to that." 

"What-"

He never got to finish his question for the ships rockets fired up sending them off the sky blue of the Space Port fading as it became a mix of deep blue and royal purples. "Wow," She said the rope falling loose in her hands as a breeze of cold wind picked up the hair around her face. She made her way to the railing getting a better look at the new sky she would be stuck with for months. 

She barely noticed when Jim started to climb up the shrouds next to her. Then suddenly she saw what looked liked a herd of whales passing their way. "No way!" She exclaimed jumping on top the rail to get as close as possible. Ocecus Galatics, Elizabeth thinks their called. 

She briefly read about them before in a school project, Arrow said they might see a few of the, this being their migrating season and all. Elizabeth almost fell backwards in surprise as one flew close to the side of the ship, it was one of the smaller ones, probably a baby. It's large brown eye found her and she swore it winked at her. She watched as it continued to go the last of the heard following along with it. 

She let out a sigh as now sat on the rail legs swinging back and forth. She wasn't suppose to be having fun. A frown settled on her face as she stared out at the sky with false disdain, she was suppose to hate everything about this bloody trip but that was getting harder by the second. 

"And those things where?" She jumped a bit in surprise by Jim's sudden appearance next to her, him hanging by the ropes of the Shrouds. His blue eyes stared at her waiting for an answer. 

"Oh, Space Whales." She set her chin in her hand as she looked back out at the sky. "It's their migrating season." 

"You know a lot about this stuff." He said fixing her with a curious look, Elizabeth only shrugged. "I read a lot." 

It seemed like that's all she does lately, if not that cleaning something. Her life has been incredibly dull as of late, this trip is what she had to look towards to but now that was going to be a challenge seeing as she was babysitting. 

"That guy in the red jacket-"

"Arrow," She corrected him. 

"Yeah, he called you Cadet earlier. So are you really, like you know?" 

She gave him a small smile. "Yep that's me, Cadet Armstrong, reporting for duty." She gave him a mock solute before letting her shoulders shag, trying to get comfortable in this ridiculously stiff jacket. Seriously, how did Amelia and Arrow wear these? 

Jim stared at the girl not sure what to ask next, his next question was on the tip of his tongue till he heard his name being called. Both teens turned to the source finding Silver with his hands behind his back. "I got two 'ew friends I would like for yer ta meet," Jim looked around for the friends while Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. Suddenly a mop was thrown his way, Jim catching it with ease. "Say 'ello to, Mr. Mop." A bucket soon followed. "And Mrs. buckets." 

"Yippie," 

She only left for a few minutes. 

All she wanted to do was change out of that stupid jacket and get her books. She was going to head right back to the deck afterwards and wait till Jim was finish mopping to report back to Captain and Arrow. Simple. Easy. 

Of course not, nothing could ever be easy in her life now could it. When she got back she saw one of the crew mates holding Jim back the collar with his back pressed roughly against the mast. Apparently Captain Amelia was right when she said the boy was trouble, then again the woman is always right. 

She would have her head for this happening, especially it only being the first few hours of the voyage. Great. She gave a sigh before she marched through the crowd of crew mates all cheering and egging on a fight. Some shot her glares but she ignored them and made her way to the center of it. 

"Sir, could you please set the boy down," Elizabeth said with a huff, her toned annoyed she had to resist the need to roll her eyes. "Please and thank you." 

The loud crew mates suddenly became quiet Elizabeth could hear whispers as they stared at her. She looked around briefly at them, before turning her attention back to the Spider man finding him fixing her with a hard look. "I don't take orderss from children." 

"Good because your talking to a Cadet here," The blonde crossed her arms. "Now would you please set him down, I would hate it if Arrow finds out about this." 

"You besst run along ssomewhere, girl," He hissed turning his attention back to Jim. "I have no bussinesss with you." 

"I can't do that," Elizabeth said taking a step closer to him. "You see you harassing him," She flickered her thumb over her shoulder at Jim who was staring at the back of her head. "Isn't going to work out for me. So why don't we settle this like adults and you put the boy down." 

"Now you listen here-"

"No you listen," She interrupted him, if it was possible making the man turn redder in anger. "I'm a cadet. You are a crew mate. Now correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't that put me above you in the ranking system?" She rubbed her chin in thought before turning back to him a smirk playing over her features. "I don't believe I'm wrong." 

He moved his hand as if to strike her, because that what acting like adults meant but was quickly stopped by a mechanical claw seizing his wrist making him hiss in pain. Elizabeth and Jim turned to find Silver being the source. "Mr. Scroop," Silver said taking a bite out of prup. "You ever see what happens to a fresh prup when you squeeze real tight?" Silver tighten his grip on the crab like man's arm causing him to drop Jim from the sudden pain. 

The crew mates became lively again, but died down just as fast as Arrow came down the stairs. Great this was just what she needed. "What's all this then?" He asked hands behind his back taking slow steps towards the group, he fixed Elizabeth with a look causing her to wipe a hand down her face. 

She was screwed. 

"You all no the rules," He bellowed coming closer to the crew mates fixing them each with a hard look, must of them never meeting his gaze. "There will be no brawling on this ship. Any further offenders will be confined to the brig for the rest of this trip." Arrow turned to Scroop as the man gave him a defiant look, Arrow only leaned forward fixing the man with one of his hard stares. Elizabeth hated being on the other end of that one. "Am I clear Mr. Scroop?" 

The crab man looked like he might have spoken out, but for some reason changed his mind. "Transsparently," He said voice low and ruff, hissing out the 'S' in the word every so slightly. Approving of that answer Arrow turned his attention on the young blonde next. 

"I expect that assignment to be ready within the hour, Cadet Armstrong." An hour. She hadn't even started it yet! He probably wasn't cutting her any slack because of this fight that wasn't even her fault. "I would also like a report of today's mishap, so I suggest you ask around." 

"Yes, Sir." She said with a defeated sigh as all the crew mates began to file out. They would no doubt not be cooperative with her if she asked any questions, oh the joy. 

Silver waved everyone off, talking something about tight ships, happy ships Elizabeth stopped paying attention after that and went in search for a spot to finish her assignment. Muttering to herself about low lives and a hatred of spiders. She kept in close distance to Jim seeing him back to mopping with Morph flying around his head. 

It seemed harmless. 

She dove into her homework, not submerging till she realized she could hardly read the words anymore. Looking up she realized it had gotten dark out, crap this assignment might be late and she didn't even start that report yet. She only had a few questions left regarding the Prometheus war that she could answer later. 

She ripped out a sheet of paper before heading to find Jim. She needed his statement. She found the boy in the front of the ship still mopping, upon hearing her footsteps he looked up a frown setting on his face. "Uh, sorry did I mess up the floor?" 

"No," He said and went back to mopping his eyes staring at the floor. 

"Alright, well I gotta ask you a few questions about what happened," She posed her pen on her paper and looked at him intently. "So who started the fight?" 

He turned to her. "Why did you do that?" He asked now holding the mop tight in his hands. 

Elizabeth bite the inside of her cheek, "You do know that I'm suppose to ask the questions right?" She asked tapping her pen against her piece of paper. 

"You didn't need to help me," He told her making Elizabeth snort. "I was doing just fine own my own." 

"Yeah okay was that before or after he tried to kill you," Elizabeth raised her eyebrow as Morph looked back between the two, not liking what he was seeing. "The way I see it I saved your butt, now if you don't mind answering a few questions." 

"I don't need some babysitter!" 

Elizabeth had to nicker at his choice of words,"Well apparently, Captain thinks you do." He gave her a confused look. "You got snippy with her, she doesn't like it when people get snippy with her. She thought you might be too much for, Silver so she's having me," Elizabeth gave a sad sigh admitting the next word. "Babysit. So to speak." 

Jim stared at her, the anger bubbling up in him. "She can't do that!"

Elizabeth sighed. "But she can she's the, Captain. So are you gonna answer these questions or..?"

He dropped the mop. "I'm gonna go talk to her," He stomped towards the Captain's courtiers, Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't even bother," She called after him watching as he stopped marching up the stairs. "I already tried that. Once she makes up her mind there's no changing it." 

He stopped and turned to her, "So what that's it?" His toned was anything but pleased as he walked back onto the deck. "Your just gonna follow me around like some little kid?" 

"Trust me I have other things I could be doing," She tapped her paper with her pencil. "About that statement..." 

"Is that all you care about?!" 

"Pretty much, yeah," She agreed with a single nod, receiving a glare from him. "There's no point in arguing about it, that's not going to change anything. Trust me, I already tried that too." He gave her an annoyed sigh before setting back to work. "Look us annoying each other isn't going to help any, in fact it will only makes things worse. For the both of us." At that he raised his head to look at her. "Let's just help each other out make it easier on the other." 

Jim nodded his head leaning against the mop. "Okay fine, how do we go about this?" 

"I stick close to you, but I keep my distance." He nodded his head. "In return you try to stay out of trouble that way I have one less thing to worry about, and maybe if I see Silver is giving you too much work help out here and there." 

"Alright deal," He said Morph suddenly appearing at his shoulder again, eyes drifting from Elizabeth to Jim. Elizabeth sent the blob a small smile. 

"Shake on it," She prompted sticking her hand out, hazel eyes determined. Soon his hand wrapped around her's in a tight shake. "It's a pleasure doing business with you, Jim." 

"Right," He said eyeing her again. "I never actually got your name." 

"Just call me, Lizzy." 

"Okay, Lizzy," He said rubbing the back of his neck. "So I may or may not have started that fight." She riasied one dark eyebrow at him. "Okay so I did, but in my defense he had it coming." 

Elizabeth said the same thing about someone not too long ago. She smiled at this. "What's so funny?" Jim asked as Morph flew around his head.

Lizzy shook her head at her paper finishing her sentence before she looked back up at him, "We just might not so different, is all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and let me know if I should update again? :3


	3. Chapter 3

The Captain was anything but pleased when Elizabeth managed her way to her quarters that night. The woman nearly bite her head off. 

"I gave you one job, Cadet Armstrong," She said through a tight jaw. "You where to watch the boy and see he stay out of trouble. It hasn't even been one day and he has already started fights." 

Elizabeth squared her shoulder, "I'm sorry, Captain. It won't happen again." 

Amelia took a sip of her tea, closing her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them again they held a sad look at them as they found Elizabeth. She stood up from her seat and made her way to the front of her desk standing across from the young girl, "Now, Elizabeth, I know you can do better than this." The blonde gave her a look of disbelief. "I don't put my trust in many people you know, you are amongst the lucky few."

Elizabeth knew where this conversation was going. 

"I don't want to see you waste all that potential I know you have," Elizabeth internally cringed at the sentence. "You could make a fine Sailor someday, maybe even a Captain, if you just applied yourself." Amelia placed her hand on her shoulder, "Now go and get some rest, must be up bright and early tomorrow." 

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Yes, Ma'am." 

Elizabeth made her way to her room, once in she found her way to her hammock and plopped down face first. Today had been a long day. She wanted nothing more then to finally go to sleep till she remembered her late assignment she never handed into Arrow. 

With a groan she rolled out of her bed, looking around in the candle lit room for her books. Squinting her eyes and going through a few papers she finally found it. She made her way to Arrow's room knocked a few times but he wasn't there. 

He was probably with Amelia then. 

She made he way back to the Captain's quarter's prepared to knock till she heard the sound of voices her ears perked, "She is one of the brightest kids at that Academy, but she never applies herself to her work. Things only got worse after she broke that girls nose!" That was Amelia's voice. "Didn't help any that it was Admiral Blake's daughter. He almost had her expelled, Arrow. Luckily I was able to convince the Dean to give her another chance." 

"I know, Amelia," Arrow said his voice sounding deeper than usual, like he was sad. "Things just weren't the same for her after her parents death, I believe she is just coming to terms with it is all." 

"I understand that I really do," The woman's voice sounded tired. "But she's destroying her future. Even if she does perfect on voyage, what if she goes back to the academy and does the exact same thing?" There was a pause. "Her parent's wouldn't want this."

Elizabeth heard enough at that point. She decided the assignment could wait till tomorrow to be turned in, quickly but quietly she made her way back to her room. Once in she let the paper fall to the floor forgotten kicking off her shoes into a dark corner. 

She layed on her hammock her hands going to the locket around her neck. She opened it images flickering to life, a man in a royal blue coat and a woman in a vibrant red, smiling bright faces as a young girl ran into their arms. The next was a present day Elizabeth dressed in her white Interstellar Academy jacket instead of pants a white pleated skirt, socks that reached just below her knees and black flats. 

Instead of the always present scowl that downed her face was a bright smile. There was even a skip in her step as she made her way to her first day of school. Elizabeth remembered that day. Her parents had been excited that she had gotten into the Academy even though it came as no surprise. Elizabeth herself was excited she was going to go to the same school where her parents meet, where the great Armstrong name started. 

She closed the locket shut and turned to her side. She needed to go to sleep. 

...  
When she woke up the next morning she was anything but excited. 

She changed into something comfortable a loose shirt and a pair of pants she tucked into her boots. She grabbed her books before making her way to deck rubbing the sleep out of eyes. There she was greeted with the ever so friendly smiles from her crewmates, she simply ignored and made her way to the Galley for breakfast. 

There was Silver preparing plates of sliced purps and some type of bread. It smelt delicious. There were only a few crewmates left in Galley taking their time eating. One of them being the purple woman who was missing the lower half of her body and the slug man who had a hat too big for his head. They both turned to her and give her a sharp look before turning to one another in a conversation of hushed whispers. 

This was going to be her life for the next few months, a sudden wave of depression hit the teen as she made her way to the counter to grab one of the plates, when a pink blob meet her vision. She smiled as Morph gave her wide innocent eyes before licking her face causing the girl to laugh. 

"Morning, Morph," She said taking her plate to one of the empty tables in the corner, not noticing when Silver gave her a small smile. Her book hit the wooden table with a thud as she sat down not wasting time to crack it open. Her eyebrows became furrowed in concentration only reaching over to her plate of food the girl only looked up when she realized her plate was empty. 

She looked at her plate then at Morph who was flying a little too close to the now empty plate. She playfully narrowed her eyes at him as she pointed her fork at him. "You ate all my food didn't you?" His only response was for him to giggle before licking the side of her face. "I let you off easy this one time, you pink little blob." 

She cracked him a smile before turning back to her book, which was talking about the proper way to to load a gun, which she already knew. Could probably do with her eyes closed too. She gave a sigh before placing her chin in her hand, boredom completely covering her features. 

Why she was even bothering with these books, was beyond her, she knew everything even with getting kicked out of the Academy her parents thought her the basics before they taught her how to walk. She knew what it took to be a Captain, Sailor, or even a simple crew men. 

Morph flew around her head a few times gaining her attention, "Wanna help me study?" She asked him, the little blob looked at her book, at the picture of the gun and all it's parts, and in the blink of an eye there was a model of a gun floating in front of her. 

"Not bad," She said grabbing it, the metal feeling cool to the touch. "You make a great study buddy Morph." She tickled the gun causing Morph to return to his original form. He giggled at her before his girl caught something around behind her and flew over to greet the new guest. 

Elizabeth turned and saw Morph flying around Jim's head only to stop and nuzzle against his cheek. Jim smiled at the pink blob before his eyes darted to Elizabeth, "Morning, Lizzy," She almost forgot she told him to call her thought. 

Her mouth lifted up into a smile ," Morning, did you sleep well?" She asked getting up from her spot to turn to the kitchen to hand Silver her plate. The look on Jim's face told her all she needed to know. "Bad bunk buddy?"

"The worst, he keeps farting or snoring in my face," He wiped a hand down his face making his way to the Kitchen to get a plate of prups and bread. "The smell is just-" He cringed not being able to find the words to describe it. 

"I can't believe this is going to be my life for the next few months," He said sitting across from Lizzy, it surprised her but she didn't say anything. "What are you doing?" He asked motioning to the book in front of her. 

"Homework," 

He raised a single eyebrow at her as he continued to eat causing Lizzy to smile, "It's a really long story." 

"We got months," 

Lizzy shook her head, "Wouldn't want to bore you," She said as Morph flew in her vision making her wave a hand at the blob. Before Jim could say something else Silver's voice boomed throughout the Galley, "Jimbo!" 

The boy let out a sigh before rolling his eyes, turning his attention to the cyborg, "Yes?" 

"When yer done with cha breakfast, I got some chores for yer tah do," He said sending the boy a wide smile, Elizabeth smirked as Jim narrowed his eyes. "Gotta get 'em barnacles off the side of the ship." He called before returning to the kitchen. 

"I do not like that man," Jim said in a low voice turning to Lizzy. 

Lizzy raised an eyebrow, "Really I thought he seemed nice." The blonde likes to think she is a good judge of character, Jim gave her look that said 'are you kidding me?'. "What?"  
She asked. "He's charismatic." 

"I don't trust him," Jim said a dark look covering his face as he poked at his prups. Elizabeth brought her eyebrows down in confusion at that, his face told more then his words. She was curious but decided not to question it. 

"I could help you if you want," She offered. "With the barnacles." 

Jim shook his head. "Nah, I wouldn't make you do that," He told her. "I mean how bad can it be?" 

...  
Two hours later Lizzy was on the deck with Arrow. 

The where going through assignments, her turning in what she needed to do and getting new ones. "I believe that is the last one," Arrow said handing her a piece of paper, Lizzy placed it on the large thick pile sighing at all the work that had to be done within the week. "Have you been enjoying the voyage so far?" 

The girl shrugged. "You could say that," She told the rock putting the papers into the book so they wouldn't blow off. "The crew is very interesting." 

Arrow smiled. "That they are, where incident report was very well detailed by the way," The praise caused a corner or Lizzie's mouth to lift up. "So how are things with you and Mr. Hawkins?" 

"Good, I guess," Lizzy shrugged. "I mean he hasn't been in any trouble so that's a good thing. I don't think he'll be much of a problem." Arrow gave the girl a look of disbelief. "I'm serious he isn't a bad kid, just rough around the edges." 

"Rough around the edges, hm." Arrow said. "Reminds me of someone." 

"Arrow it isn't nice to talk about the Captain like that," Lizzy laughed as she looked up at the older man, Arrow gave a hearty laugh at the girl. 

"Speaking of Mr. Hawkins, where is he?"

"Don't know last time I saw him he was on his way to scrape the barnacles off," She said looking around the ship for the boy. "I should probably go and find him, see ya later, Arrow."

"Alright then, don't forget about your assignment due tonight," 

"Okay," She called over her shoulder heading to the spot where she last saw Silver and Jim. She looked over the rail of the ship and saw Jim by himself sitting on a plank still scraping off barnacles. "You're still down there?" 

The sudden voice startled Jim almost making him almost fall off his plank, "You gotta warn somebody when you do that," He shouted up at her before turning back to the barnacle. Lizzy smiled down at him before setting her book on the rail, watching him stab the barnacle not scrape. "You're doing that the wrong way ." 

"Now you're sounding like Silver," 

Lizzy looked around and found a nearby plank, buckle, and scarper. She tied the ends of the rope to the railing before throwing her black over, with bucket in hand she climbed down and was right next to Jim. "Speaking of the old guy, where is he?" 

"He had to go make lunch," Jim grumbled. "Said he'll be back when he's done." 

"When was that?" 

"About 2 hours ago," 

"Well I guess we better hurry," Lizzy said scraping off a barnacle. "You missed lunch already if we work fast enough we can catch dinner." 

Jim gave her a small smile, "Thanks." 

"No problem," 

For the next hour the two worked in mostly silence getting the whole right side of the ship done, almost finished with the left side when it began to get dark. "So why are you here exactly?" Jim asked her. "I'm mean you're not part of the crew or anything." 

Lizzy let out a sigh scarping off another barnacle. "You know Interstellar Academy right?" Jim nodded his head. "Well I sorta got kicked out." 

"What do you mean sorta?" 

"Everything's tricky with the situation right now," She pursed her lips thinking how to word her next sentence. " But basically if I do good on this voyage, then I can go back." 

"You don't sound all that happy about it," 

"I could care less," She said honestly. "Nothing there for me." 

"How did you get kicked out?" Jim asked turning the scarper over in his hands. "It couldn't have been that bad." 

Lizzy smiled a wide grin. "I punched a girl, broke her nose." At Jim's shocked expression Lizzy laughed. "Technically speaking I could have stayed if she wasn't the Admiral's daughter. Plus there was also the grades and the skipping of class." 

"I had you pegged all wrong," Jim said under his breath. "I thought you where a priss, only a little bit but a priss none the less." 

"First time I've ever been called a priss," Lizzy said followed by a grunt as she tried to scrape off a particular barnacle that refused to get off. "So what about you, how'd you end up here?" 

"That is a very log story," 

She shrugged, "We got Months," She repeated his words from earlier making the boy smile, he looked up at the railing making sure there wasn't anybody there. 

He turned to her leaning close, "If I tell you have to promise not to tell anyone," Lizzy shook her head one. "Okay it all started when this ship crashed by my house."


End file.
